Teh Tarik's Guide to Tokyo Disneyland

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<data:blog.title/>We have come to the final chapter of my trip to Japan and quite frankly, I think I saved up the most exciting for the last. Regardless of what one might say, there is no such thing that a person will ever grow old out of Disneyland. I remembered that my last visit to Disneyland in Anaheim California was back in 1995 and I remembered both my parents had the same amount of fun as I had with SafrizOnline.

More than 15 years later, we were back to Disneyland with the same gang!

One thing that I do know is that people may get confused on what to go on first when coming to Disneyland and most of the times you would have a very limited time to spend when visiting the park. So I would personally like to share on what you need to do when you're there!

The park itself is divided into 7 different locations, each of them are color coordinated with the floor of the park itself. The first thing you need to do is of course to get yourself into the mood.

I got myself an awesome Goofy hat which I wore everywhere (including the flight back home!). Not only it looks the set, Goofy's huge nose covered my eyes from the strong winter sun that day!

SafrizOnline went for the more "cooler" look by getting himself a Pirates of the Caribbean hat with Mickey's ears popping out. It even comes with a set of dreadlocks on the side!

All these items are made available at the Main Bazaar area which is an area with a collection of shops and restaurants that you will see first upon entering the park. Don't stay too long when you're here though, you will get the chance to do shopping when you're coming out of the park.

However I might have to mention that I've spotted a bunch of popcorn stalls around the park, serving rather odd flavors than the ones that we are used to.

[Boring old salted popcorn]

[One for the sweetooth]

[Nice but oh so sinful!]

[Taste surprisingly better than it sounds]

[Starting to get weird...]

[This one is kinda special because you can only find it in front of Winnie the Pooh's place]

There were a few more that I didn't manage to take a picture of (black pepper, strawberry, maple, etc.) but that one I'll leave it to you people to explore.

Once done, turn right towards the first park which is Tomorrowland.

[Entrance to Tomorrowland!]

One of the reasons I would recommend for people to go here first is because I myself is a thrill seeker and they have the best rides in the park here, unlike the other Disneylands. You would want to start of with a few mild rides first, one in particular would be the car ride through the story of Monsters INC. and Buzz Lightyear shooting ride.

[They actually built the actual Monster Inc. factory just like in the movie!]

The main attraction that you would want to get on is the perilous Space Mountain. Not for the weak hearted, this ride is the one ride I remembered the most from my last trip. High speed rollercoaster set in a space setting and with that, it is so dark in there you would not even be able to see the tracks when on the ride!

[Kinda hard to pose badass with my Goofy hat]

Interestingly enough though, they are adding a new ride this coming year which is rumoured to blow every Star War's geek fan's mind out of the world. The Star Tours, which is a motion styled ride that makes you believe that you are part of a tour group that goes around the Empire Galactic Planetary system and the best part of all, each ride would actually get you in a different type of tour so you need to go on it more than once!

While I was there, there were still in construction so looking forward for this addition!

Next up, you have Toonland!

The entire area itself is made to look like the town where all the characters of the park lives (note to fact that the parade actually starts from here!) and this is also where you would find their individual houses to play around with!

Because the interesting sights you would find in this area, spend more time trying to "goof" off with what you can find!

[Had to handle the traffic there...]

[Found the town gym so decided to work out a little bit]

[Couldn't resist a jumpshot in front of the town hall]

The main attraction on this park would be the Chip n' Dale Mini Coaster which is a milder version of the ride, just to get your heart going.

[Mini Whee!]

Once covered with the rides there, your next destination would be Fantasyland!

To be honest, there is nothing much that is exciting for me here in Fantasyland. Most of the rides here are very slow and are catered more for kids of a much younger age. The rides revolve around telling the stories of the Disney movies in the past and even focused more on having the characters running around the streets, taking pictures with the people.

[The oldest ride in the park - It's a small world]

[My infamous inability to take a serious picture strikes again!]

The main attraction for this area would be the Haunted Mansion,which is definitely worth a visit. Without spoiling much about the ride, the setting of the ride is quite amazing and one to look forward to is the use of it's 3D hologram imaging for the ride.

[Interior and exterior setting of the ride itself!]

Next up, is Critter County!

With the setting of the typical bayou countryside of the States, this area houses the more raw and outdoor kind of rides for Disneyland. Expect to see more boat rides and nature type rides here in this area which for me was always fun!

[My Goofy hat fits perfectly here in Critter County]

[Made a new friend at the canoe ride]

[Most of the rides here are hidden in cave, as are their restaurants]

[Mississippi Steamboat rides across the river]

The main attraction here is obviously the scary looking Splash Mountain. 7 drops in the watery log ride which include a final 3 stories drop which from the outside is enough to make your stomach turn. One fair warning to the people going on this ride, you will get wet.

[That's the closest I can get without getting wet]

Right next to this would be your next destination, Westernland

Set with the backdrop of the Western Cowboy era, the entire town itself is decorated with booths and restaurants just like the ol' saloon of the cowboy days. Personally there is nothing much to actually spend time here although this would be the good place for you guys to take a break and have lunch after exploring the rest of the park beforehand. There are a lot of restaurants that can be found here so go nuts.

Apart from that, I personally think that this area only offers shooting galleries and round up games which doesn't really appeal to the thrill seeker in me.

Except for one.

[Big Thunder Mountain Railway Coaster!]

[Awww yeah!]

A very fast paced railway rollercoaster that has the twist and turns which would scare even the metal hearted. One of the best thing I love about this ride is that they actually put most of the backdrop really close to the ride and give you the feeling of crashing into the props, decapitating you in an instant. Awesome!

Finally, you would then drop by the more mellow yet interesting site, Adventureland!

With a more jungle setting in place, one would be able to expect a more safari or amazonian styled activities here in Adventureland. Considering that this would be the last part of the park for you to visit, it is only fair that they do have some really interesting rides in this part of the park.

[Swiss Robinson Family Treehouse]

[Jungle Cruise Boat Ride]

[The guy driving the boat could only say three english words which was "EEENNGGRRISSHH??" "RREAAALLLY" "GOOODD BOOIII!". Still it was freaking hillarious!]

There are two attractions here which is a must go for anyone that is here. First up is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Interestingly enough though I went on this ride back in 95 in the states and today they changed everything to suit the current Johnny Depp version of the series, which makes it even better!

[Pirates of the Caribbean!]

[Piece of advise, watch out for the talking skeleton! :D]

The second must go ride from this area is of course the Tiki Room, also known now as the Lilo and Stitch Aloha E Komo Mai Room. It may sound childish but you'd be surprised how much fun it would be with hundreds of singing mechatronics around you in a room!

[The Enchanted Tiki Lilo and Stich Room!]

Another thing that you guys need to know is that for every half and hour or so, Disneyland organises a street parade consisting of the Disney characters for the visitors of that day so you would need to time yourself in order to either catch the parade itself or avoid the crowd entirely. Don't forget to join the fun of the parade as well!

[Mickey's parade car!]

[Donald and Daffy's santa car!]

[Dancers and Snowmen dancing!]

[Huey, Duey and Louie escorting Santa!]

So, that pretty much covers all the park location as well as mention worthy rides that you would need to cover while being in Tokyo Disneyland. Another system that they also put into place is the "Fast Pass" system where a limited number of fast pass tickets are allocated each day for visitors on a first come first serve basis. Perhaps if there are any of those that you would want to choose, you can go with the ones that I have suggested with above.

And thus comes the end of my journey to Japan. It was one hell of a cold ride I have to admit but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the trip from start to the very end. I really do understand why some would love to come back here over and over again. Perhaps next time, I can haul the rest of TeamTehTarik with me as well!